


Dear Scarab

by ParvumAutomaton



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-29 00:49:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParvumAutomaton/pseuds/ParvumAutomaton
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set between Beneath and Depths. During a stealth mission, the Scarab gets onto the psychic link and everyone gets a little more than they bargained for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dear Scarab

**Author's Note:**

> Set between Beneath and Depths. 
> 
> A special thanks to Windona for helping me to beta this fic. 
> 
> This fic was originally posted to Tumblr.

_{The psychic link has been established}_ Miss Martian stated to their small squad, currently swimming deep under the Red Sea, investigating information from Aquaman.

_{Remember, psychic link only. This is a stealth and recon mission only.}_ Superboy continued over the link, glaring at Lagoon Boy. _{We have reason to believe that the Light’s alien partner is taking human captives. So there can be absolutely no stunts that could potentially endanger them.}_

_{I get it chum}_ Lagoon Boy growled back, _{I’ve done this before.}_

Blue Beetle ignored the rising tension, and simply nodded that he understood. That was the reason that Jaime jumped at the chance to do this mission. Tye was still missing. Sure being captured by aliens was a bit of a longshot. But still it had been weeks, and Jaime watched television. Or at least he did back before he became the Blue Beetle, and lost all of his free time to saving people. But the point still stood. He knew that the longer it took to find a missing person, the lower the likelihood of finding them alive was.

As they swam towards the hidden caverns that Aquaman had noticed, Jaime just kept replaying that night. If he had been just a little faster. If he hadn’t stopped to grab his hoodie, could he have made it in time? A couple of seconds, that was all the time that someone would need to grab him or slit… no.

Jaime shook his head. Just grab him. Tye was either taking time to himself or captured and Jaime could rescue him. There was no third option. Unless there was a body, Jaime was not going to even consider it. Even think about it.

_{Blue!}_

Conner’s mental voice broke through Jaime’s thoughts, and Jaime shook his head. _{Sorry…}_

_{You need to focus on the mission Blue,}_ Conner frowned at him from behind his rebreather. _{Can you tell what is on the other side of that rock facade?}_

Jaime nodded and pointed his arm at the rock face. Nothing happened, but the Scarab did speak up.

**{Do you want to scan it? Or perhaps you want to blow it up? I am unsure since the Martian’s psychic link leaves me out of the loop of all conversation.}**

Jaime rolled his eyes at the petulant tone, but couldn’t really fault the Scarab. “Just scan it ok _esé_?”

_{Stealth mission means no talking Blue}_ Conner corrected, raising a finger in a quiet motion.

**{Did the Superboy just shush us?}**

_{Sorry}_ Jaime replied to the team as he read over the scan results from the Scarab.

**{He did, didn’t he?}**

Jaime nodded and hoped that the Scarab would pick up on it, _{I’m not picking up any obvious cameras or other sensors or well any life forms larger than my thumbnail. But it looks like it connects to a tunnel system. I can’t tell too much about it from here, but we should be clear to enter the cavern.}_

**{This is a security risk, and can not be allowed!}**

Jaime grimaced, and really hoped that the Scarab understood. Miss M had already swum forward though the facade. She was trying to find them an entry point. And Jaime did not want to risk potential enemies hearing him and then attacking her.

_{Blue}_ La’gaan called, _{just because Superboy is being a jellyfish, doesn’t mean you have to hang back.}_

_{Rookies}_ Conner argued, glaring at La’gaan, _{need to realize how important stealth is to a stealth mission. One slip up…}_

_{Neptune’s Beard! We don’t need to take this from you…}_

Jaime positioned himself between the two of them _{Guys, it’s fine.}_

**{I believe}** the Scarab broke in **{that I have found a way to ‘piggy back’ onto the link. The link itself creates temporary changes in your brain, I should be able to use those to echo the link into something that I can perceive.}**

Jaime gave a thumbs-up, and he felt a slight light-headedness as the Scarab did whatever it was doing. He shook his head, and it cleared easily enough.

_{There seems to be an opening twenty feet down, you’ll come up through an overhang}_ M’gann called, _{I’ll meet you there.}_

Jaime led both Conner and La’gaan. The Scarab projecting directions onto his heads-up display as soon as M’gann spoke. Whatever it did must have worked.

Jaime swam down until the Scarab alerted him to an inconsistency in the rock face. He changed directions quickly, slipping into a crevice just barely avoiding banging his head or leg on the rock. Rolling over onto his back, Jaime scanned the top of the crevice until he saw the opening that M’gann was talking about. Several pieces of petrified wood cluttered the hole. And Jaime followed the Scarabs projections as he used a narrow plasma beam to slice through it.

La’gaan was the next to arrive, swimming until he was right behind Jaime’s feet. _{I told you that you overlooked the opening chum.}_

Conner grunted over the psychic link, and a second past before he growled, _{Blue what are you doing?}_

He pushed his way past La’gaan, and both of their backs scraped against the edges of the narrow crevice. Once he was through, he continued to push forward until he closed in on Jaime and roughly grabbed the arm that had become the plasma gun.

_{M’gann said she had found an opening, what do you think you are doing? One wrong move and the whole mission could come down on our heads.}_

_**{The Superboy is the one who risks mission failure.}**_ The Scarab hissed _**{Taking out anger on unrelated targets will only lead to a lack of focus, and potential disaster.}**_

Jaime sighed but gave a slight grin. _{Look…}_

_{It’s Ok}_ M’gann cut in, _{You all are at the opening I felt, Jaime has just been removing some built up debris right?}_

_{um yeah.}_ Jaime resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck. _{Look, everyone is packed in here way too tight for me to fire my jets, and this weighs like a ton esé…}_

Conner reached up, abashed, _{yeah, I got it Blue}._

He pushed the petrified wood up and out of the way. Jaime was about to follow when La’gaan tapped his elbow. Jaime turned and La’gaan was holding up his right hand with a huge smile. Jaime slowly returned the high five, and raised an eyebrow. La’gaan didn’t say anything else though and Jaime followed him back towards Conner and M’gann.

Jaime made a note of the cavern. It looked like, at some point, it used to be completely dry. The cavern itself was massive, it was about three stories from where they entered to the vaulted roof. Hieroglyphs covered the wall, or at least the portions that were not coated by a thick sludge that the suits sonar could not penetrate. Jaime really did not want to think about what it was made up of.

Although it wasn’t that anyone was really ‘seeing’, as the chamber itself was pitch black. But the Scarab had pulled out some form of sonar for the suit, and he knew that Conner had infrared, which would probably at least keep him from hitting walls, or barring that, at least facing any enemies. And based on the lack of complaints from La’gaan and M’gann, Jaime assumed that they had, or had adopted, some Atlantean trait for dealing with deep dark water.

Jaime made another sweep of the ground. Just two very large boulders and other smaller debris all covered with that same thick sludge.  

_{La’gaan}_ M’gann gasped over the link, _{there’s no water movement, I’m changing forms, but you need to get a rebreather}_

La’gaan took several seconds to respond, his eyes were half lidded, _{Anglefish, I’m fine.}_

_{No you are not, get out of here La’gaan.}_

_{I said I was fine}_ He growled at Superboy, blinking several times.

_**{That is unlikely, however I have a plan}**_ Jaime cocked his head to one side and looked down, a rebreather was already forming off of his left hand. It finished growing and detached, floating in front of Jaime.

_{Huh, I did not know we could make stuff detachable}_

Jaime noticed that M’gann, Conner, and La’gaan were all looking at him incredulously. Jaime grabbed the rebreather in his right hand and rubbed the back of his neck with his left.

_{Sorry, the suit made a rebreather. I’ll probably disappear, or dissolve, or something, in a couple of hours, but for now it’ll work.}_

_{Thanks for the offer minnow,}_ La’gaan deadpanned, _{but I said I was fine, this isn’t a problem.}_

_**{The Lagoon Boy only objects because he wishes to impress the Martian}**_ Scarab began, while Jaime sighed and resisted the urge to facepalm. _**{That is a foolish endeavor, since it is clear from her choice that the Martian has already been impressed by the Lagoon Boy.  This endeavor is doubly futile, since it is unlikely that his dying would be a positive result for her. In addition…}**_

Jaime spoke over his Scarab’s monologuing, La’gaan was watching him intently, and Conner, who Jaime figured was bored with waiting, had swum away using short overpowered strokes.

_{I’m sure that it isn’t a problem, but, just take it for me esé, por favor?}_

La’gaan glanced at M’gann who gave him a small smile. He then sighed, _{fine, hand it over Blue.}_

Jaime grinned and did so. La’gaan snatched the rebreather. _{If anyone says a word…}_

He let the threat hanging. Jaime didn’t fight it, but he did glance at Conner. Conner met his gaze and then continued inspecting the far wall of the cavern.

The silence stretched, filling the empty cavern. Until Conner announced, _{I think I found a tunnel.}_

La’gaan swam forward, and Jaime followed, but M’gann caught his wrist. She spoke to him using a second, private link, _{Are you feeling ok?}_

_{Yeah, I’m fine.}_ Jaime made a move to pull away, but M’gann did not let go. Jaime didn’t force it.

_{You sure?}_

He gave a half smile, _{Yeah…}_

_{Jaime.}_

Jaime took a deep breath, looking towards M’gann but not meeting her eyes. _{it’s just. I can’t reach my best friend. At all. I mean I’m sure he’ll turn up, he’s got to…}_

_{You blame yourself, Jaime, it’s not your fault.}_

Jaime pressed his lips together and turned away, he didn’t quite believe that.

_**{Bringing this up now is irrelevant.}**_ The Scarab attempted to console him in it’s own special way, _**{Besides if the Martian would abandon her useless guilt over not being the same as she was years ago, she would focus on taking charge and stopping the verbal sniping that the Superboy does to the Lagoon Boy. }**_

Jaime groaned and glanced over his shoulder towards the Scarab, _{I’m not gonna repeat it, this is not the time to get into relationship advice.}_

_**{But it is important,}**_ The scarab argued back, and Jaime could feel the armor bristle in response, _{_ _ **No matter prior relationship status, the Superboy is practically her family. And when family attacks a friend or significant other the person with the strongest connection should be the one that delivers the message that a behavior is inappropriate. That way it is more likely to lead to be well received and lead to a positive solution.}**_

Jaime blinked, and then blinked again. _{Have you been following, like, Dear Abby or something, esé?}_

He ignored M’gann’s startled _{no.}_ and instead waited for the Scarab’s response, which came directly after

_**{Obviously. Human relationships are important to understand. After everything with the Maurice, and the Longshadows. I get that.}**_ Jaime caught a glimpse of Tye and Maurice projected onto his display. _**{In addition, I recommend that the most efficient way of delivering the message would be a sonic cannon…}**_

Jaime held back a laugh. There was the Scarab he knew. _{Or words, esé, words also work.}_

He then returned his gaze to M’gann who was staring at him wide eyed, _{Sorry about that, you must think I’m crazy, but it’s…}_

_{No it’s alright, it really is. And thank you, for sharing.}_

_{Um, ok?}_ Jaime easily pulled his hand back and swam forward, followed closely by M’gann.

Once they arrived she took point going down the tunnel. Jaime positioned himself between Conner and La’gaan, neither of whom attempted to glare at the other while Jaime was there.

The floor of the tunnel angled up, but the water was just as still in it as it was in the first cavern. It was wide enough that there was no risk of hitting each other or the walls, even while swimming side by side.

Jaime rolled his head while swimming, left then right. He then closed his eyes and continued kicking while he stretched his upper body.

His eyes snapped open when his fingertips brushed against the side wall. It was covered in that same thick sludge, but with a brush of his hand he was easily able to clear it off.

Jaime traced the newly revealed designs with his fingertips. More hieroglyphs. Most were pretty standard, the ones that every school aged kid saw in museums or under the doodles in their school’s textbooks. There were a few though, simple, thick lined and smooth. He didn’t remember them from a textbook, but they sure looked similar to the script used in his heads up display. Huh. Ted Kord must have been a history buff then. Another thing about the fallen hero that Jaime would never get to know.

_{Blue!}_

Jaime jerked away from the wall and quickly swam towards Conner and the rest of the team. They had already arrived in a second cavern. It was smaller than the first one, and no debris littered the ground. His sonar couldn’t see past the sludge at the top of the cavern but ceiling appeared perfectly flat to him.

_**{91.23% probability that there is air above the water in this chamber.}**_ The Scarab put forth.

_{Yeah ok. I’m gonna check out the ceiling then, there might be an air pocket…}_

_{Yeah we figured,}_ La’gaan quipped back.

Jaime didn’t respond. He swam up and slowly moved past the waterline.

_{eww}_

_{What is is Blue?}_

Jaime wiped the sludge, which had coated him upon surfacing, away from his eyes. _{It’s nothing bad. But wow, there is a lot of room up here. I’m gonna have a look around.}_

Jaime slowly flew out of the water. It was still dark, but according to the Scarab’s readouts, the air was breathable, if slightly stale. The hieroglyphs extended far out of the water. The water itself was perfectly flat, and covered by a layer of that sludge. Everywhere except where Jaime had broken the surface.

_{Hey La’gaan, if you wanna take the rebreather off for a bit, there’s safe air here.}_

Jaime heard La’gaan laugh over the link _{Do I ever, er, no offence Blue.}_

_{None taken, just be sure to come up through the whole I made, there’s something coating the surface. It’s pretty nasty.}_

_{Great, you know what that something is?}_

_{No sé}_ Jaime shrugged, and rubbed some of the sludge still coating his armor between his fingers. And even as he did that he could see calculations running on the lower left corner of his display. It only took a couple of seconds before the Scarab spoke.

_**{Analysis shows the material to be consistent with some kind of nanotube structure. Low level electromagnetic fields blocked it from my sensors earlier.}** _

_{But why would there be this field?}_ Jaime questioned, ignoring for the moment how weird he must sound over the link.

The Scarab responded instantly _**{Conjecture. Electricity moving through the molecular structure of the ‘sludge’ would cause the electromagnetic field. The most likely purpose is a cheap sensor grid…Get back into the water! I cannot get a good scan from here.}**_

Jaime dropped back into the water with a cloud of bubbles that quickly dissolved away. He noted La’gaan out of the corned or his eye, diving after him.

_**{Two targets approaching from the entrance tunnel. They are 1342.34 meters away approaching at 12.5 meters per second. Based on movement, targets have a 94.32% probability of being hostile. Recommended tactic, Preemptive strike.}** _

Jaime wasted no time in relaying this over the psychic link _{Right, so we have potential enemies who’ll be showing up in… uhh… about two minutes?}_

_**{one minute and 47 seconds.}**_ The Scarab corrected.

_{Fine a minute and….}_

_{We know Blue,}_ La’gaan cut him off, _{you don’t have to repeat everything.}_

_{Lo siento…}_

_{Although,}_ La’gaan continued, a wide grin forming behind his rebreather, _{Preemptive strike is something I can get behind}_

Jaime froze, his mental voice was no more than a whisper, _{No.}_

_{What now Blue?}_ Conner questioned as he moved into position facing the tunnel.

_{Where did you hear ‘preemptive strike’?}_

La’gaan shrugged, _{from you.}_

Jaime didn’t move, his eyes were wide. This could not be happening.

_{It’s ok,}_ M’gann comforted, _{it can take a little while to get used to a psychic link}_

_{Thats not it…}_ Jaime shook his head. _{it’s… I don’t… I mean I haven’t…}_

_{Blue} Conner admonished, {focus we’ll deal with the inner demons later.}_

_{Right. Right.}_

The four of them turned their attention to tunnel. Miss Martian’s eyes glowed green momentarily, _{I’m not getting any form of mental activity, so it likely that they are machines.}_

Conner seemed to relax at that statement. He turned away from M’gann and fully faced the tunnel opening, fists held loosely in front of him in a mix between his normal stance and Superman’s traditional flying pose.

Then Jaime made visual contact with the ‘targets’. They were large and covered in that same sludge that coated everything. They had a podlike body, the front had two short antenna like structures facing straight ahead, and the back tapered to a sharp point. They also had two long segmented legs, that were kicking and propelling the robots forward.

Jaime then felt, in a way that was similar to but more detached than his connection with the Scarab, that they were powering up. The Scarab reconfigured his arm into a shield, and the moved forward to intercept the blast, as neither La’gaan nor Conner had made a move to dodge.

Target one fired first. The blue light cast harsh shadows over the cavern. Jaime easily deflected it with his shield, using the Scarab’s calculations to arc the blast towards the second target.

Jaime didn’t see if that blast connected though. For as soon as it bounced off his shield the Scarab started screaming in his and probably everyone else’s head _**{No! No! Not now! No! We cannot let them find us. We cannot. No. Away. Alert. Hide! Hide!}**_

The Scarab continued to shout. And Jaime gasped when the cold water hit him.

His mouth and nose filled with the stagnant cave water. He coughed. Attempting to expel the water. Bubbles of air rose in front of him illuminated briefly by flashes of blue light.

Up. He tried to swim. But his hoodie and jeans restricted his movement, and his soaked shoes bogged him down. Still he kicked, thrashed, and then doubled over. Hands clutching at his throat.

He felt a strong webbed hand grab his shoulder and something was forced over his mouth and nose.

La’gaan’s voice cut through the Scarab’s alerts, _{Breathe. Come on Blue, relax and breathe.}_

He did so. Breathing and coughing and shivering.

_{Good. You’re doing good.}_

Eyes opened or closed made no real difference. Everything was dark, and the plasma blasts from the fight above were bright enough to see through his lids. Still opening his eyes meant that he was closer to being alright. And he stared at nothing until La’gaan’s mental voice broke in again.

_{Ok. I hate to do this, but Blue, on the count of three I need you to hold your breath.}_

Jaime felt La’gaan move closer, he nodded and spoke over the Scarab’s warnings that were still running consistently in his head _{Yeah, ok}_

_{Two voices? That’s… anyway… One. Two. Three.}_

Jaime held his breath and resisted the urge to panic when the water hit his nose. Calm, stay calm. La’gaan was right there. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen. He was fine, calm. He was just in the middle of a fight in the middle of the Red Sea without his armor. Calm. Against an enemy that freaked out the Scarab. He was fine. Calm. The Scarab never freaked. Never.  

The rebreather was replaced over his nose and mouth. Jaime stopped holding his breath, gasping and trying to calm his pounding heart.

_{Alright minnow,}_ La’gaan spoke _{you said that gunk on the surface is like a big sensor?}_

_{I didn’t…}_ Jaime stopped, now was not the time. He might be compromised, but he was still a superhero, time to focus. _{yeah it is.}_

La’gaan grabbed Jaime’s hands and pushed them on top of his rebreather.

_{Alright then, hold on tight. I haven’t done this in years.}_

Jaime held the rebreather close. He watched the inky darkness again. Now in addition to being broken by flashes of plasma from the battle above it was also held back by the glowing from La’gaans tattoos. He didn’t get larger like Jaime expected. Instead he swung his arms in a rapid repeating motion over his head.

Jaime heard the roar of crashing waves and rushing water. He felt the sting of silt and rocks. And every movement sent the air bubbles that had accumulated under the folds of his clothing flying off into the blackness. He tried to stay in the same place, but the rapid churning of the water overwhelmed him.

He stopped moving when La’gaan grabbed him, wrapping one arm around his chest and the other pushing against the rebreather, holding it in place. Jaime blinked and tried to regain his bearings. But at the moment he could not even differentiate between up and down. He did however calm himself down enough to start listening in on the psychic link again. Just in time to catch an angry Conner.

_{What the hell was that La’gaan?}_

He could feel La’gaan tense up, _{Neptune’s Beard! I just did what needed to be done chum}_

_{Listen rookie…}_ La’gaan’s grip tightened at Conner’s brusque words.

_{Conner that’s enough,}_ M’gann cut him off, _{La’gaan what is going on?}_

La’gaan’s grip relaxed, _{I don’t know exactly, but Blue’s armor is down. And with that gunk in place, anyone at the surface would be a sitting duck. Besides humans don’t really hold up well swimming in cold water. So I gave him the rebreather and oxygenated the water for me. Which means I can do this…}_

_{Hold the transformation La’gaan}_ Conner ordered.

_{Why?}_

_{Get in position first, I’ve got it’s attention. So you should be able to sneak behind it and then take it out while it’s focused on me, clear?}_

Jaime could feel La’gaan smile through the link _{Got it}_

_{I’ll hold off number two,}_ M’gann chimed in, _{we need to finish this fast.}_

Jaime let the rest of the team do their work. He instead started mumbling into his rebreather. Just loud enough for his words to reach his own ears. “Come on Scarab, focus. We need you now, I need you now. I get it, these guys are bad news. But talk to me. We’re a hero, we fight guys that are bad news. Come on work with me.”

The rapid change in pressure caught Jaime by surprise and sent him careening backwards. He looked up, but could not see anything. La’gaan’s laughter over the psychic link alerted him to what had happened.

The Scarab fell silent. The first thing that Jaime noticed was that he could now see the wreckage of one of the robots, in his yellow tinged viewing screen. It was torn in half, probably a joint effort between Lagoon Boy and Superboy.

The Scarab spoke in a soft whisper, _**{It can be done?}**_

Jaime stretched, relieved to be out of the cold and the dark.

_{Alright! Blue Beetle is back in action!}_ He called over the link, before swimming up to meet the team surrounding the second Robot. They no longer had surprise on their side, and neither Conner nor La’gaan could get close enough to land a hit. M’gann was having the most luck, using her psychic power to lock up joints on it.

_{Good,}_ M’gann commanded, _{if the armor’s back, we should try to capture the other one}_

_**{NO, they must be eliminated with extreme prejudice}**_ The Scarab shouted over the link.

Jaime started to argue, but the Scarab cut him off _**{They have the capacity for communication, however it has not come online yet. Jaime Reyes, it is imperative that we destroy them before it does}**_

_{And, and you promise that it’s not alive in any sense.}_

_{It is not}_ M’gann answered even as the Scarab huffed an explanation.

_**{It is not alive nor aware. It is closer to one of your military’s drones than to a being on the level of Red Tornado}** _

Jaime grinned, _{Alright then, recommendation?}_

_**{Plasma cannon full power.}** _

Jaime didn’t stop grinning, even if he did roll his eyes. _{How about a recommendation that won’t lead to collateral damage?}_

_**{Cannon at 54.7% will destroy target with 97% certainty, and will not vaporize the surrounding water.}**_ The Scarab admitted reluctantly.

_{That’s better,}_ Jaime agreed, pointing his weapon towards the robot before calling to the rest of the team _{get back.}_

He needn’t of bothered. The rest of the team had already given the machine a wide berth. M’gann was still holding it in place. Making the final shot very easy for Jaime to take. And the second robot was destroyed leaving behind nothing more than a column of bubbles.

La’gaan was the first to break the silence. He raised his hand slightly before he spoke. _{Ok, I gotta ask, what was that?}_

Conner looked Jaime in the eye, { _That was your scarab wasn’t it?}_

_{yeah…}_

La’gaan looked at Conner, _{That doesn’t exactly explain anything…}_

Jaime tried to pull his thoughts together. Yes his armor talked. Yes it was way too violent. Yes he kept using it anyway, because together they could help people. In fact it was getting better, kinda, and you should have heard the suggestions that it used to make. No he wasn’t keeping it a secret, it just never came up. No he didn’t blame them for not asking. Yes he did trust them to be understanding it was just…

Conner must have seen him struggling for words, and explained with a shrug, _{It’s his name for the A.I. in Ted’s armor.}_

La’gaan nodded, and didn’t press anymore.

_{So did that first blast do something?}_ M’gann directed her question towards Jaime, _{As I’ve never heard this scarab over the link before.}_

_{Uh, no… I mean, I think it’s my fault Scarab’s on the link.}_ Jaime answered rubbing his neck _{It was getting petulant…}_

_**{Was not}** _

_{Were so}_

_**{No}** _

_{Fine, Scarab was getting annoyed at not being able to hear what was going on, all prior times I’ve been able to whisper updates… so to keep silent during the mission, I let it do something with brain chemistry and psychic link changes. I just. I wasn’t expecting it to be able to talk over the link}_

_**{It was not an expected outcome, but still fortuitous.}** _

Jaime rolled his eyes, _{yes, because everyone totally needed to hear your plan for boiling the sea}_

The Scarab huffed, _**{that was a good plan, only a 0.001% chance of failure}**_

_{So,}_ Conner said, steering the conversation back to the mission, _{where to now?}_

_{Back to the Bioship,}_ M’gann answered, _{Unless anyone has seen more tunnels?}_

At the chorus of negatives from the rest of the team she continued _{Then it seems like this is a dead end. Even though those robots are probably alien, they are old. Very old. And this cave has not been disturbed in a while, it’s unlikely that this has anything to do with the current invasion. Beetle, can you take a scan of this place just in case, there might be something interesting to learn from the hieroglyphs.}_

Jaime’s eyes glowed orange for a second, _{Got it, easy enough with the sludge gone.}_

_{Alright, upload it once we get back to the Bioship, I want to get out of here before we have another drowning incident.}_

After finishing her command, M’gann led the way, followed closely by Conner. Jaime tugged on La’gaan hand before he followed.

_{Sorry esé, but this tunnel is long.}_

_{Yeah, yeah I get it}_ La’gaan grabbed the newly reformed rebreather.

_**{…Your tactics against the probes, including the use of the previous rebreather were…admirable.}** _

La’gaan blinked, _{Was that you or the bug?}_

_{The Bug,}_ Jaime grinned, _{I think, in it’s own way, it’s trying to say thank you. For you know, saving my life. And um… thanks, from me too…}_

_{Alpha never leaves a man behind}_

La’gaan swam down the tunnel, followed shortly by Jaime. Jaime didn’t bother looking at the walls this time. He didn’t want to risk waking something up, again. Instead he clenched and released his fist before finally questioning La’gaan.

_{How long?}_

La’gaan turned, swimming down the tunnel backwards so that he could face Jaime, _{for what?}_

_{I mean, was Scarab talking the entire time? Because…}_

La’gaan shrugged, _{It’s fine}_

_{Really?}_ Jaime pressed, _{because I don’t think that it is. I…I didn’t even notice. And then I went and explored that air pocket, bringing those probes down on our head.}_

_{No one’s perfect}_

_**{The Lagoon Boy is correct, additional stress with not aid in performance}** _

Jaime balled his fists _{But… But I’m a Superhero…}_

La’gaan laughed both over the link and outloud _{that changes nothing. Even Batman got caught in the Light’s mind control plot}_

_{And then he came back and won, didn’t he? I mean…}_ Jaime gave a short bitter laugh, _{when all the adults disappeared… what five years ago now? They still had a plan. And me? I’m still having problems how my own body works.}_

La’gaan shook his head, _{Blue you’re looking at Superheros from the outside looking in. But they’re still people, they can still let you down. No matter how big of a star they once were.}_

Jaime fell silent. He spent the rest of the trip back vaguely watching the calculations and translations from the Scarab about the hieroglyphs run over and over across the bottom corner of his internal display.  Every so often he would catch and actual word like ritual or reach but most of the Scarabs work was with numbers.

He was the last of the team to arrive at the Bioship, and took Conner’s proffered hand to help him enter. M’gann was already at the controls and La’gaan was standing near her. The ship took off silently, cleanly breaking the surface.

Once the ship was in the air M’gann directed a question at him, or more precisely, the Scarab.

“I’m going to shut down the link now, is that ok? I can keep it if…”

_**{I have work to do,}**_ The Scarab cut her off, _**{and would prefer to do without interruptions}**_

Jaime rolled his eyes, and gave M’gann a slight smile, “Like uploading the scans, _hermano_?”

**{Fine, I can do that too}**

Jaime glanced over his shoulder, “are we just going to stay in armor?”

**{it is easier this way, besides you did not bring a change of clothes onto the bioship}**

“So?” Jaime questioned before flopping down into his seat, head in hands, “Oh brilliant.”

“What now Blue?”

Jaime looked up towards Conner, “Scarab’s pretty sure that when my clothes are reformed, they’re going to be soaked.”

“Ah”

“Also thanks,” Jaime fidgeted, pointing a thumb over his shoulder, “for helping me explain, you know, Jiminy Cricket here.”

Conner purposely turned his back to To M’gann who was flying the ship and La’gaan who had a hand on her arm. He instead looked towards Jaime, his eyes tracking the clouds visible in the window behind Blue Beetle’s head.

“Sure, just next time…”

“Yeah?” Jaime couldn’t quite stop his smile.

“Let the team know when you’re in trouble.”

Jaime’s shoulders sagged. “Right. Of course. Um…”

**{Ask.}**

“No,” Jaime waved off the Scarab, “Nevermind. It’s not important.”

“Blue?”

Jaime struggled to think of an appropriate deflecting response. And was relieved when he was saved from answering by M’gann.

“Incoming transmission, it’s Nightwing.”

A large screen appeared in the front of the Bioship. Conner and M’gann turned to face it while La’gaan trudged back to his seat.

“ _Miss Martian, Superboy.”_ Nightwing spoke, “ _We have a ‘visitor’ at the cave…”_

“What kind of visitor?” M’gann questioned.

“ _The potential new recruit kind.”_ Nightwing shrugged, “ _I want to talk to the two of you before anything is final though. What is your ETA?”_

Jaime glanced out the window and noticed La’gaan doing the same. He noticed when the Bioship picked up speed. Outside was a blur of clouds, and Jaime was content to just watch them fly by. He saw that the Scarab was scanning through the numbers that it had calculated in the cave. Frequencies then. He hoped that it was not trying to listen into Batman’s private channel, again. Jaime expected to hear voices or maybe just static, so he jumped a bit when there were two clicks followed by the Scarab rapidly breaking off the signal.

“What was that?”

The Scarab didn’t answer him directly, instead it responded tersely, as if it were worried. **{I need to make some internal memory modifications.}**

The Scarab never sounded worried, at least before today. Any further musing on Jaime’s part was cut off when the armor folded away, leaving Jaime sitting in cold and muddy clothes that were dripping water onto the Bioship’s floor.

“Great.”

M’gann turned to him as the Bioship pulled into the Cave’s hanger, “Are you ok?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.”

The Bioship landed with a gentle thump and Conner exited the ramp first, followed shortly by M’gann and La’gaan. Jaime took his time, and removed his soaked shoes and socks before shuffling down the exit leaving a trail of water behind him. Upon reaching the hanger, the rest of the team had already disappeared into one of the several tunnels leading from the hanger to the rest of the cave.

Shoes in hand Jaime looked at the different exits, taking two hesitating steps towards one before stopping and angling towards another. He stopped before he had taken five steps and let out an aggravated sigh. He really had not spent enough time here.

He dropped his shoes, which landed with a splat. Before taking off his hoodie and dumping it on top. He looked down and his t-shirt was also smeared with that same sludge. He only debated it momentarily before removing it as well.

“So that’s the bug?”

Jaime jumped and turned around. La’gaan stood behind him, holding two boxes under one arm and offering a towel with the other.

Jaime nodded, taking the towel and wrapping it over his shoulders, “yeah, thanks.”

“No problem.” La’gaan declared, setting down the boxes. He sat on one of them and pointed to Jaime to sit on the other. “The best Gamma squad ever has to stick together. And speaking of Gamma Squad, Robin said that the new arrival wants to meet Blue Beetle.”

Jaime sighed and sat on the other box.

“What?” La’gaan questioned, “that’s a good thing, right?”

“It’s neutral, I mean this new arrival probably wants to meet the last Beetle, not me. Besides, right now, all I want is a nice, clean, hot shower.”

La’gaan gave a half grin, “Well you’ll have to leave the cave to do that. At the moment the best we can do is a cold shower covered in green cheetah fur.”

Jaime gave a grin of his own, “I’m not gonna ask.”

“And the bug?”

“Is doing it’s own thing right now”

“Ahh, I guess that explains the…” La’gaan gestured to the pile of wet clothes that Jaime had left on the floor.

“Yeah, I mean something scared it, and I’m not going to begrudge it. But still. I wish I thought ahead enough to keep a change of clothes here.”

“Come on, not even Bats can plan for everything. You got someone you want me to call?”

“To do what?” Jaime asked raising an eyebrow.

La’gaan shrugged, “I don’t know, grab you a change of clothes, get you home, whatever.”

Jaime laughed, “My mom doesn’t exactly have permission to access the cave.”

“I mean,” La’gaan struggled, “who’s been showing you the ropes of being a hero?”

“Um.. no one really. There are a couple of guys, friends of Ted I guess, who will show up, drop a word of wisdom and then leave. I mean that’s why I joined the team. To figure out this hero stuff.”

“And hows that going?”

“eh… well enough I guess. I mean I was kinda hoping after I helped Superboy out with his intergang mission…” Jaime fell silent and looked at the ceiling. “I mean it’s not a big deal or anything. The team is a little overwhelmed at the moment with the alien invasion. I get that. I’m just…”

“Just what?”

“I’m just scared that I’m going to mess up again, and then someone get hurt or killed because I’m just not good, or fast, or clever enough.”

La’gaan stood quickly and stared hard at Jaime. “You are doing great. Better than most heroes even with only, what, six months experience?”

“Seven now,”

La’gaan offered Jaime his hand, “Come on, I’ve got a bunch of surface clothes that M’gann bought for me. So lets find you something dry and get you home. You can meet this visiter later. Sound good?”

“Yeah” Jaime relented taking La’gaan’s hand and allowing himself to be pulled to his feet. “Yeah, that sounds great.”

**Author's Note:**

> Although the "Ask Greg" stated that the Scarab could not be heard over the psychic link, there must be a way for it to do so, since the scarab controlling B'razz O'oomm was able to talk to M'gann over the link she established.


End file.
